Dyad Review

Just remember to blink.

Dyad’s hard to describe. It has roots in old-school arcade classics like Tempest and somewhat newer titles like Amplitude, but also manages to stand tall on its own. As such, it defies easy classification, but let’s boil it down to its essence. Dyad is part puzzle game, part arcade shooter, and perhaps even a bit of a music game as well, blending all these genres to form an utterly unique experience.

Dyad oozes charm in part thanks to a steady stream of peculiar design choices. For instance, it appears complicated and perhaps even a little confusing upon first glance. But actually playing Dyad gives you a feeling of absolute control, and players quickly gain clarity as Dyad artfully explains itself and builds on its rules at an appropriate cadence. Likewise, once you get into Dyad, cruising through the game seems almost too simple… until you realize that earning perfect ratings and any of the game’s Trophies will be among the hardest feats you’ve had to accomplish on your PlayStation 3 in some time.

Dyad never requires more than two buttons and either the left analog stick or directional pad, making it very accessible. With the X button, players can grapple onto and interact with enemies and other objects in Dyad’s cylindrical environments. Such interactions result in various outcomes depending both on the object or enemy in question and the particular rules and goals of the stage you’re on. The Square button occasionally serves a function as well, though it won’t always be used, making Dyad even easier to control.

Such simple controls bear a bit more explanation, so let’s go a little more in depth. As you speed down Dyad’s almost wormhole-like levels, you can grapple onto an orb and then a like-colored orb in sequence to earn a speed burst. Other times, an identical technique results in the appearance of a purple speedway that jettisons you forward at rapid speeds. Shooting at an orb and then brushing into the side of it can build up a special series of meters that give you even faster speed bursts, while unintentionally smashing into special stationary objects in your way will stop you cold your tracks. Terms like Hook, Graze, Lance and Zipline make up just a sliver of Dyad’s specialized vernacular that explain, in a word, some of those aforementioned mechanics.

But in reality, Dyad sounds so much more complicated than it actually is… at least in premise. That’s because it does a wonderful job of explaining exactly what’s expected of you. Better yet, the rules implemented during certain stages along the way slowly but surely build upon themselves in a fashion that can only be deemed as fairly. During any of the game’s 26 stages vary – sometimes you’ll be racing, other times fulfilling certain numeric goals having to do with hooking, grazing or lancing enemies – you’ll always have a firm grasp on what to do thanks to how well the game not only builds its difficulty level, but how well it illustrates its expectations, too. If you fail, it’ll be your fault, not the game’s. And expect to fail often if you’re aiming for perfection.

Once you get the hang of things, it’ll only take you a few hours at the most to blaze through Dyad’s 26 stages, but rushing through it would also mean missing out on its true beauty. Each level has three sets of goals that earn you from one to three stars in a specialized rating system. While earning a mere one star mark unlocks the next stage on your path, three stars unlocks that particular stage’s specialized Trophy mode. Each stage has such a mode, meaning that every level has a Trophy to earn if you have the mettle to unlock it. And trust me, you’ll require lots of mettle. Most of these Trophies are exceptionally difficult, and Dyad’s Platinum Trophy is sure to rank among some of the hardest ones to obtain.

Of course, if Trophies are meaningless to you, the simple fact that Dyad’s 26 stages effectively multiply into 52 by way of those Trophy challenges means you get more bang for your buck. And when you take into account each stage’s “Remix Options” allowing you to alter the look and feel of any given level, as well as the game’s online leaderboards, what you find isn’t only a robust package with a lot of options, but one that gives you a whole bunch of reasons to come back for more.

And yes, it’s damn fun to play, too.

The Verdict

We’ve known about Dyad for a long time – it’s been in development for several years -- but it still somehow flew under my radar as far as something that really compelled me to play it. But when I started playing Dyad, everything changed. This PSN exclusive offers something unique and fun to the PlayStation audience, and it’s a game I truly think that a wide variety of gamers with an even wider variety of genre preferences can enjoy. Don’t be intimidated by what appears to be a high level of entry. Give Dyad a try and get sucked into it just like I did.